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Stukov
Stukov is a Melee Support Hero from the StarCraft universe. Alexei Stukov had a hard life, and an even harder death. He has been betrayed, shot into space, resurrected and infested, almost cured, and then experimented upon as the infestation returned. Now, his infestation spreads within the Nexus... Background In the 25th century of Earth’s History, the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet was dispatched to reign in the Terran Colonies of the Koprulu Sector. The fleet arrived with the aim to subjugate the Terran colonies, enslave the new Zerg Overmind, and use their controlled Zerg broods to pacify the Protoss. Of the formidable commanders tasked with this imperative endeavor, Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov was second in command. During the violent campaign in that system, developments ensued that would eventually cast Stukov in a traitorous light to his superiors. Having been found to be in violation of a direct order to destroy the powerful Psi Disrupter, Stukov was subsequently executed for his disobedience. Unbeknownst to the UED at the time, their ranks had been infiltrated by a powerful shape-shifting alien entity that sought to sow confusion about the importance of Stukov’s mission. After his death, Stukov’s corpse was later recovered by a renegade faction of the surviving Zerg cerebrates, who sought to infest human leaders and mutate them into leaders of their own colonies. As the first of their attempts to blend their genetics with that of humanity’s, the once lifeless husk of Stukov was reanimated into something at once both more and less than human. Gameplay Summary Stukov is Melee Support with a aggressive kit compared to most Supports (akin to Kharazim and Rehgar), who is capable of spreading healing-over-time to his allies, and damage-over-time to his enemies. His trait, , allows him to detonate both damage and heal over-time to simultaneously spike damage/heal all those affected. Despite being a melee character, he fulfills most of his duties from the backline, having high utility by being capable of slowing and silence his opponents. Overall, Stukov performs wells on defensive-oriented teams that can zone opponents and peel allies. He is best paired with Heroes capable of defending the backline, which allows for to spread reliably. While he can solo heal very well under these conditions, he performs even better with a suplementary off-healer. Strengths * Good variety of talents to suit different builds. * Low mana usage. ** Can further increase his mana efficiency with talents like and . * Surprisingly high Basic Attack Damage; highest of all Supports, and even rivaling/surpassing some Assassins. * is a cooldown with global range, affecting all allies and enemies, no matter where they are. ** This ability gives a surprisingly high amount of burst damage/healing. * High sustained multi-target healing with and . ** In addition, Healing Pathogen has a surprisingly high spreading range. * deals good amount of damage on its own, as well gradually slowling opponents. ** Talents like and further increase its utility. ** It is a flexible ability that can be used to either help chasing opponents or to flee from them. * can silence enemies indefinitely (as long they're inside it), allowing to easily shutdown focused opponents that are under other forms of crowd control (such as slow and roots). ** In addition, channeling it costs no mana; only the initial cast. * is a very versatile tool, useful for defending objectives or setting opponents for kills. * can isolate key members of the enemy team if well timed, or stun them for kill setups. Weaknesses * High learning curve, being difficult to master. * Not enough tools to make entering melee range a viable option. ** In addition, he has very slow attack speed, slower than Leoric. * Limited healing and damage potential when is on cooldown. ** In addition, it has a long cooldown. * Very poor mobility. * Very vulnerable to crowd control and focus fire until getting his Heroic Abilities. * is easy to avoid without pre-crowd control, and Stukov is vulnerable while the channeling, becoming immobile. * is hard to use, easy to avoid, and requires proper timing. Abilities Traits Heroic Abilities Talents Tier 1, Hero Level 1 Tier 2, Hero Level 4 Tier 3, Hero Level 7 Tier 4, Hero Level 10 Tier 5, Hero Level 13 Tier 6, Hero Level 16 Tier 7, Hero Level 20 Talent Builds * Weighted Pustule Build: focused on improving , allowing Stukov to pressure and harass opponents from great distances, mass slow opponents when taking damage below 50%, all while being able to provided decent healing. This build is recommended when paired with Heroes that can already apply some kind of crowd control to their enemies. * Lurking Arm Build: focused on improving , allowing Stukov to cover a larger radius as well longer range. This build is best used in maps with tight corridors and choke points, allowing to get the maximum of this ability. * Bio-Kill Switch Build: focused on maximizing the effect of , increasing both healing and damage potential. In addition, sacrifices Stukov high Basic Attack Damage by turning it into long-range with a slow effect. Tips * Use sparingly since it has a long cooldown; save to use in key moments. ** Use it primarily to burst heal allies rather than damaging opponents. * Prioritize casting on the frontlines, as it will always spread from the first host, meaning it will be easier for it go spread back to the team. ** Positioning is key. Make sure that your allies are within range to spread Healing Pathogen to each other; or move into their position to spread it yourself. ** Cast Healing Pathogen preemptively when you expect a team member to be attacked; this will guarantee that it will spread to the rest of the team faster. * is great for both offense and defense; use it to secure kills or when you need to disengage from chasing enemies. * is great to defend forts against melee siegers (such as Xul), as well attacking forts when there is enough backup. * Do not use as an offensive cooldown; the damage is not significant enough. Instead, use only to defend objetives, peel opponents and protect allies. * Use constantly as it has low cooldown; however, be mindful of positioning to get the most of it. Just be careful to not shove away focused opponents and ruin kill setups. ** If well positioned, it can be used to push opponents towards allied structures to put them in vulnerable situations. Matchups Pairings Stukov is best paired with Heroes that are at their best when fighting together, as opposed to divers that will be out of the range of . Stukov is also very powerful strong with Heroes that have access to or similar, thanks to his slow effects (especially if is taken). Anub'arak's can reliably be followed up by , essentially trapping opponent Heroes and negating any form of escaping. Cassia is notoriously vulnerable to spells, while very strong against Basic Attacking Heroes like Raynor or Valla. Stukov can account for these weaknesses with the silence from his . Cassia is also a solid mid-range hero that mostly stays near her team, which helps Stukov spread his . Chromie's works amazingly well with , preventing high mobility Heroes to move away from the combined area of effect. Since both Chromie and Stukov can maintain those abilities indefinitely, they can essentially create large carpets of crowd control during team fights. Dehaka's can be used to pull opponents inside Stukov's . In addition, Dehaka can also silence opponents with , allowing extended soft crowd-control. Garrosh's ability to punish enemies positioning, combined with Stukov's own tools to do the same, make them an excellent duo to control the battlefield. Garrosh's > combo can easily set up for Stukov's and (to throw opponents towards the allied structures). In addition, Garrosh's can aid Stukov's poor mobility. Keeping enemies inside is paramount, and Leoric's large area slow and heroic greatly assist that. His large health pool and ability also work well with Stukov’s heal over time style of support. Stukov's Lurking Arm ability can also be used inside Leoric's Entomb heroic ability to create a makeshift Buried Alive Stukov is at its best when reliably spreading to all his allies. Being three Heroes into one, The Lost Vikings can easily spread the Pathogen among themselves and their allies. This is specially useful when taking the talent A combination of and can completely shutdown enemy Heroes. In addition, Malfurion's heal-over-time complements Stukov's. Nazeebo's , combined with Stukov's can completely shutdown an enemy Hero if properly timed. If Stukov picks , his Lurking Arm will cover the entire radius of Zombie Wall, leaving no chance to escape. Much like with the Lost Vikings, Rexxar and Misha can spread reliably. In addition, Rexxar's can further prolong Stukov's slow effects and vice-versa with his abilities and . Similarly to The Lost Vikings and Rexxar, Samuro's allows his clones to carry out the to the rest of the team. With enough communication and organization, Stitches can land a + , which can be followed by Stukov's , resulting in a combo that can displace an enemy Hero almost entirely across a map. Stitches can also release his victim inside of Stukov's Lurking Arm, leaving them silenced and forced to take extra damage. Effective against Stukov is highly efficient against Heroes that relies too much on cooldowns, as his can be held indefinitely if he doesn't take the Growing Infestation talent at level 7. Because of this, he excels at shutting down Heroes that rely on channeled abilities and spell-damage Heroes with low mobility. His Basic Attacks are also strong enough to retaliate when given the chance. Auriel relies on her team to inflict damage in order to gather the energy necessary to heal. Since Stukov can apply constant pressure with and silence his opponents, this can both shutdown Auriel's main source of energy, as well Auriel's herself. Additionally, Stukov can punish both of Auriel's Heroic abilities by casting Lurking Arm; after she uses either or , Stukov can simply cast Lurking Arm on her target and wait; if Auriel casts it on herself, it is essentially a death penalty. The worst thing for Chen is to be interrupted while chugging his , in order to gain his sweet, sweet armor. can easily prevent Chen from shielding himself, leaving him completely vulnerable, specially if cast when he already started drinking (thus triggering its Fortifying Brew's cooldown). While Gul'dan himself poses a high threat to Stukov, he can be easily shutdown with and due his poor mobility. Gul'dan will find himself at his most vulnerable position when using and , two abilities where he must stay still to channel. Despite being able to win a 1v1 situation against Stukov due his unusual burst damage, Rehgar's can be destroyed with a single Basic Attack from Stukov, thus negating his crowd control. Effective foes High mobility Heroes can easily avoid Stukov's zone control. Also, Heroes with multiple crowd control abilities can capitalize on Stukov's poor mobility. Since Stukov lacks burst healing when is on cooldown, Heroes with high spike damage and/or ganking capabilities can put him in tight situations. Anub'arak can harass Stukov from distance with , as well dive right into him with , which is very dangerous when Stukov is channelling . With no inherent mobility, Stukov can do little to dodge Artanis’ , and cannot get away from the dash of his . Likewise, Artanis’ is all but guaranteed to get decent value on Stukov. Cho'gall has the right tools to bully and pressure Stukov, isolating him from the rest of the group. Since Gall cannot be silenced due to , he is unaffected by Stukov's , allowing him to harass from a safe distance using and . Additionally, Cho can also easily dive and break the backline using ; if he picks , he becomes even more dangerous, as it will prevent Stukov from pushing him with or . Garrosh's can easily punish Stukov while he is channeling , where he can quickly follow up with to secure the takedown, capitalizing on Stukov's mobility. Stukov struggles against dive Heroes who don’t care very much about being silenced. He has no hope of outrunning Illidan, and needs to land a very good to push the Assassin a safe distance away, which can be hard considering Illidan's high mobility. Additionally, although Stukov can deal high damage with his Basic Attacks, Illidan's and makes it harder for Stukov to trade directly with him. Stukov's gameplay style of spreading requires allies to stay relatively close to each other, something that Kel'Thuzad can easily take advantage of. Kel'Thuzad can also easily hit Stukov with and while he channels or pushes someone with , two abilities that put him in a stationary state, leaving him vulnerable. Tracer is one of Stukov's worst nightmares, boasting from range and mobility that combines what Illidan and Zeratul have; she can stick on Stukov from a safe distance while blinking to prevent any retaliation from Stukov. In similar fashion to Illidan, Zeratul can quickly combo his abilities on Stukov before the infected Terran can even get a silence going. Zeratul’s tends to counter both of Stukov’s Heroic Abilities as well. Skins ;Infested Admiral ;Admiral Krakenov :Decades ago, a mutiny forced the Admiral of the Three Anchors to walk the plank. On moonless nights, his form haunts Blackheart's Bay, calling itself "Krakenov" and demanding a lot of fish. :This skin is related to Mistharbour themed-skins. Features altered voice-over and themed abilities. Trivia * The "Dictator" skin is likely inspired on M. Bison from the Street Fighter series, more specifically his design in Street Fighter II. **The "UED" skin is likely inspired on Shin-Bison from the Street Fighter EX3. * The "Admiral Krakenov" skin is most likely inspired on Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean series, due they sharing the concept of a "Octopus Pirate". ** The "Ghost" variation bears a resemblance to LeChuck from the Monkey Island series, particularly his incarnations in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge and The Curse of Monkey Island. ** The "Tideswept" variation bears has a similar color scheme to Octodad, a character from the game of the same name, more specifically his design in the sequel Octodad: Dadliest Catch. Patch changes * * * External links * Stukov at Battle.net Category:Heroes Category:Support Category:Zerg Category:Human